Chapter 71: Gathering Defeated Soldiers!

  "Quick! Withdraw! Quick withdrawal! One class, hold on for me!" A National Army lieutenant led about 70-80 officers and men to retreat in a fluster while fighting.

  This defeated soldier belonged to the 2nd Division's supplementary brigade, 3rd regiment, 2nd battalion. Half a month ago, at the beginning of the Battle of Shanghai, the 2nd Division's supplementary brigade was the vanguard and disguised itself as a security team to enter Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai.

  And killed two Japanese military personnel who drove into the concession, thus officially triggering the Battle of Shanghai.

  The Second Division's supplementary brigade took the lead, launching an attack on the Japanese army's position. After a fierce battle of more than half a month, all regiments of the supplementary brigade suffered heavy casualties. During the retreat, it was inevitable that some small units and the main force were dispersed.

  This small detachment was a complete infantry battalion, and the battalion commander was unfortunately hit by a stray bullet during the retreat, making a heroic sacrifice for the country. Nearly two hundred officers and soldiers were also heavily casualties, leaving less than half of the troops, led by the only surviving second lieutenant platoon leader to fight and retreat.

  "Fall back, the little devils are catching up! You take the brothers and retreat first, I'll stay behind to hold them off!" A sergeant shouted, hugging a light machine gun with both hands.

  The lieutenant colonel looked at his subordinates with a resolute gaze, and shouted reluctantly: "Zhao Er Gou, come back alive for me." As soon as he finished speaking, he led the remaining dozens of soldiers to quickly retreat in the direction of Luo Zhuang.

  The squad leader, Zhao Er Gou, looked at the gradually departing officers and comrades-in-arms with determination, then turned his head back, hugged the light machine gun, and loudly roared: "Brothers! Fire!" Immediately after, he pulled the trigger and fiercely opened fire on the Japanese army over 100 meters away.

  The rest of the seven or eight warriors also opened fire in a hurry "Bang bang..... Da da da....." The dense bullets rushed towards the devils who were chasing like a whirlwind.

  The several devil soldiers who were charging in the front were instantly shot, and fell to the ground one after another. Having suffered a sudden attack of firepower, more than 100 devils fell down, and a company commander drew out his command knife, yelling and commanding to counterattack.

  As the fierce battle went on, the devils seemed to have discovered that the firepower was not strong and there were not many people with guns. The devil company commander sneered a few times, and immediately ordered the troops to charge forward. More than 100 devils got up from the ground, firing their guns while charging towards the squad.

  "Come on! You little devils, come on! Grandpa will treat you to bullets!" Zhao Er Gou looked at the increasing number of devils and let out a fierce roar, his submachine gun spitting out dazzling flames like a fire-spewing device, "Rat-a-tat-tat..."

  "Boom!" The enemy's grenade launcher fired several grenades that landed behind a group of soldiers, instantly exploding and hitting two soldiers who didn't have time to dodge, falling into a pool of blood.

  A warrior pulled a domestically-made hand grenade from his waist, pulled the fuse and quickly threw out the smoking grenade.

  "Boom!" The grenade landed in the midst of the enemy crowd, exploding with a burst of scarlet flames, and three devils were blown to pieces, their bodies torn apart.

  "Squad leader! The devils are coming around from our flank!" a soldier cried out.

  Zhao Ergou followed the warrior's pointing gaze and saw that more than twenty little devils had divided into two teams, crouching down and quickly making their way around the roadblock from both sides of the wasteland to encircle him.

  Zhao Ergou saw this and hastily ordered: "Brothers, retreat!"

  "Fall back!" The remaining five or six warriors hastily followed Zhao Er Gou in retreating to the rear, fighting as they retreated. Over a hundred devils under the command of the devil lieutenant hastily pursued them.

  During the retreat, the devils' grenade launchers and light and heavy machine guns seemed to have grown eyes, continuously chasing Zhao Er Gou and other soldiers, especially the small-caliber grenade launcher's shells, which almost exploded right behind the soldiers' buttocks.

  If it weren't for the warriors running fast, they could be hit by grenades at any time.

  "Fall back!" Zhao Ergou occasionally turned his head to fire and shoot, urging other soldiers to retreat quickly.

  "Ho ho ho" Several Japanese grenade-throwing soldiers who were pursuing the army fired a burst of shots at a squad that was retreating, several grenades whizzed through the air with black smoke and flames and slammed into a group of soldiers.

  "Rat-a-tat..." Just then, a sharp and piercing grenade explosion was heard from behind, Zhao Ergou hastily shouted: "Take cover!!!"

  But it was too late. Several mortar shells whistled in, falling right next to Zhao Er Gou and the other soldiers. They immediately exploded.

  "Boom! Boom! Boom!" A loud explosion, Zhao Er Gou and several soldiers were all knocked to the ground by the blast. One of the soldiers even had his legs blown off.

  The smoke had barely cleared when Zhao Ergou struggled to his feet, stumbling and staggering. The other three wounded soldiers also got up, swaying unsteadily.

  The warrior whose legs were blown off on the ground had fainted from severe pain, and fresh blood was gushing out of his severed legs.

  Zhao Ergou and the other three soldiers were wounded in the legs, and their bodies also suffered varying degrees of injury. They saw the devils rushing towards them at high speed without firing a shot. Zhao Ergou and the soldiers knew they couldn't escape, and since the devils hadn't fired, it was likely that they wanted to capture them alive.

  Zhao Ergou's face turned gloomy as he turned to the other three warriors and said, "Brothers, we can't escape, but we absolutely cannot be taken prisoner by the devils. We absolutely cannot lose the face of Chinese soldiers. The time has come for us to devote ourselves to the party and country. Are you afraid?"

  "I would rather die than surrender!"

  "We'd rather die than surrender!" Several iron-clad men responded with a fierce and powerful expression.

  "Good! I'd rather die than surrender! Brothers, I still have a grenade here! Even if we're going to die, we'll face Nanjing and die!" Zhao Er Gou said resolutely.

  The four of them immediately turned around, supporting each other, facing Nanjing, completely disregarding the Japanese soldiers who were closing in behind them.

  "Brothers, I'm going to pull the hand grenade! Long live the Party and the State! Long live the Chinese nation!" Zhao Er Gou roared loudly.

  "Long live the Party and the State! Long live the Chinese nation!"

  "Long live the Party and the State! Long live the Chinese nation!"

  The warriors let out a thunderous roar, their voices echoing on and on.

  "Boom!" A loud explosion, a crimson fireball flashed by, and four heroes died heroically for their country.

  …………..

  "They are all heroes, true soldiers!" Around the bodies of the four National Army heroes, a group of Japanese soldiers stood at attention. One of them, a lieutenant, unsheathed his sword and bowed respectfully, then gave an order in Japanese: "All present, salute the brave warriors."

  About 180 Japanese soldiers stood up and gave their opponents a standard military salute.

  After the ceremony, the devil lieutenant pulled out his command knife and roared with a ferocious face: "Continue to attack! Kill them all!"

  "Kill!" Over a hundred Japanese soldiers suddenly yelled, holding their rifles and continuing to attack towards Luodian.

  ………

  Outside the Luo store, in a small village called Tangcun, Zhang Xinghan was rushing to repair defensive fortifications with more than 20 soldiers under his command. Although most of these soldiers belonged to the 88th Division's Guard Company, due to the tense battle situation and loss of contact with the division headquarters, they did not object to Zhang Xinghan's orders.

  A group of people were working hard when Zhou Wei, who was in charge of sentry duty, suddenly ran over and shouted from a distance: "Xing Han, there's a situation!" Having gone through several bloody battles together, Zhou Wei no longer had much dislike for Zhang Xinghan.

  Zhang Xinghan immediately put down the tools in his hands, picked up a rifle and quickly ran towards Zhou Wei. The rest of the officers and soldiers also held guns in their hands, preparing for battle.

  Zhang Xinghan came to Zhou Wei's side, looking ahead, a team of about dozens of people was rushing towards this direction quickly. Due to the distance, Zhang Xinghan's binoculars had been damaged in the Battle of Gongda Fabric Factory, and he couldn't see clearly whether it was the National Army or the Japanese Army on the opposite side.

  He immediately turned around and ordered, "Brothers, prepare for battle!" As he spoke, he returned to the newly repaired position with Zhou Wei, set up the only two remaining light machine guns, and the rest of the soldiers also took their positions, aiming their black muzzles at the front.

  PS: Second update! Please recommend votes to support me! The ranking list is not guaranteed! Requesting firepower support! Tomorrow will still be two updates, and after the launch, there will be a crazy explosion! First, I'll bow my head in gratitude! I'm really sweating, I just checked the scheduled update, and the previous chapter was coded at more than 5 am, but I forgot to click publish, I'm dizzy. I said why today's recommended votes didn't come up. This chapter will be updated at 9 pm!